Avidyne SynVis - General

We've been starting to fly a few non-Avidyne pilots in a R9/Syn Vis equipped aircraft to get some more feedback.  Here's the first COPA post on that topic:

http://www.cirruspilots.org/forums/p/123795/567255.aspx#567255

We'll start to post some current flight images shortly (busy at Sun-n-Fun this week).

Here is a link to a pdf document that is my draft Avidyne SynVis pilot guide insert.  I have a DRAFT watermark in it because the FAA hasn't signed off on it yet but this does represent exactly what we intend to certify.

Would love to hear your thoughts or feedback.

http://www.avidyne.com/downloads/media/SynVis-PG-Snippet.pdf

A comment on the document:

Avidyne SynVis Progress  Update (21 April 2012).

Hi Harvey,

There are some features that I won't discuss here because it would give away some elements of IFD540 we're not willing to disclose yet but for starters, here are a few features that are baseline to the IFD540 that would come over to the R9 system after the initial release of the IFD540:

1. TSO'd TAWS-B;
2. Integration with the "Avi Stack" (e.g. the Avidyne AMX240 Audio Panel and the Avidyne AXP340 ADS-B Transponder);
3. Support for XM weather data;
4. Support for XM and Sirius Music channel selection and control;
5. Improved Info Pages;
6. MLX Two-way international datalink (this might be a "dot release" after initial one);
7. Improved Map + page datablocks;
8. Improved User Waypoint functionality.

Do you have any specific "wish list" items in mind?

Got it.  The SMS text messaging will come along as part of the MLX integration (#6 above).

It is hard to say.   We've had durations from paperwork submission-to-certification/approval take as short as 1 week and as long as 4+ months.  We will begin shipping within 24 hours of FAA approval.

The SynVis release has clearly taken longer than we had anticipated.  We have everyone in the company who can work on the release, working on it.

Reference your questions about TAWS-B, I might need more background.

Are you asking what "TSO'd TAWS-B" is and are you asking about in the context of a pre-existing TAWS system on a R9 equipped aircraft or in the context of the Avidyne TAWS-B system that will be an option in the IFD540?

Thanks for the clarification, now I understand.

Any news on the certification process? 

Edited by aoffen - 13 Sep 2012 at 7:35pm

Thanks for the prompt reply. Does all the paperwork have to wait for the flight test before submission, or is that already in the system?

Must be a frustrating process. Looking forward to the end result. Its been a long time coming.

SynVis Progress Update (14 Oct 2012)

The FAA has confirmed the scheduling of the MPSUE.  The last of the FAA pilots has confirmed their schedule for the week of 26 Nov so baring any weather or aircraft mx issues, we *should* be through that evaluation by the last day of November.

We're extremely anxious to get this behind us and we're completely ready and in "wait mode" for the next month.  In the meantime, our development team has moved on to the IFD540 development and will only come back to 9.3 in the event there is a MPSUE-driven change.

Hi. Waiting with baited breathe for news of how the first round of testing went. Much appreciate if you can give us an update when available.

(SynVis Progress Update - 15 Nov 2012) - We hit a snag today during FAA MPSUE flying.   We had planned two sorties with the FAA today - two different evaluation pilots.  The first flight went off without a hitch but then after briefing the 2nd flight and even taxiing out for that flight, we had to call it off for the day when a landing jet experienced some type of mishap on landing roll and became disabled at the intersection of the two runways at Hanscom, thereby shutting down the airfield for all takeoff and landing operations for approximately 4 hours.  The afternoon FAA pilot only had today as a window of opportunity until mid Dec and the FAA feels strongly that he must participate in the evaluation.  Therefore, we can't conclude the MPSUE flying now until 13 December at the earliest.

It is exceedingly frustrating but we will press ahead with the next wave of FAA flying on the 28th of November and then wait until the hoped for last flight occurs on 12 December. 

Andrew,

(SynVis Progress Update - 22 Jan 2013) -

Interesting but disappointing news today from the FAA.  They delivered their MPSUE findings to us and overall had 28 itemized issues with the "new and novel" features of the SynVis.

It is not quite as bad as it may sound in that most will be addressed through specific descriptions and notes in the associated Pilot Guide and AFMS update but 7 or 8 of the issues will drive a code change.  The issues that require a change are all on the adjustable field of view feature that SynVis has.

Avidyne is now trying to determine our best course of action to deal with those 7 or 8 required changes.  Options range from removing the feature altogether to engineering solutions for each of the specific gripes.  

So at this point, the process is:

1.  Avidyne determine our best course of action.
2.  Avidyne propose those changes to the FAA in writing to see if those proposed changes "scratch the itch" and adequately address their concerns.
3.  FAA reconvenes (I imagine through conference calls) the MPSUE team to come up with a collective position and then informs Avidyne.
4.  Avidyne makes the changes (but not until we have FAA buy-in that those changes are sufficient).
5  FAA re-evaluates (in a manner not yet decided - e.g. we send pictures, local FAA re-flys, etc) those issue areas.
6.  Once we have a positive indication from the FAA, we then move to take the software across the certification finish line.

One side note, while we had hoped that the FAA would not need to fly the TIA themselves, they have concluded that FAA flight involvement will be required.  That too adds schedule uncertainty to the program.

Will post update when proposed issue resolution has been mutually agreed upon.

No, we have not reached any conclusions.   Avidyne submitted our proposed changes in a written response on/about 23 Jan and we haven't heard anything back from the FAA yet.

What a nightmare!!!!

(SynVis Progress Update - 22 Feb 2013)

Good to hear there is progress. There are 3 R9 aircraft heading off on a flying safari to South Australia on April 15th. What do you think our chances are of having Synvis for the trip?
Regards
Andrew

Sorry Andrew - missed the original question but no good news on the question.  We won't have cert in time for your April trip.  Sounds like a great trip, just wish our software was certified in time for it.

As expected, we won't have cert in time for your April trip but progress to the finish line continues.  We're in the middle of formal software test-for-credit for Release 9.3.  It's a massive undertaking and has a few weeks left to go.  So far, there have been no surprises or problems.    We started the testing in early March and the test metrics say we're about halfway through.

(SynVis Progress Update - 10 May 2013)

Data point update on SynVis test for credit progress....... 

Hit some tough tests recently (previous tests were a few years old and we have updated the test environment a lot since then so a lot of the tests need updating/rewriting).  No failures, just slow going.

As of Wed two days ago, we had completed 678 of the 849 tests meaning we have 21.1% still to go.